Lewis writes, "Sir: Even before I had succeeded in concentrating the isotope of hydrogen, I predicted that H2H2O [D2O] would not support life and would be lethal to higher organisms. As soon as heavy water became available experiments to test this idea were begun, but it was necessary to choose an experiment which would require the minimum of biological technique and also very small quantities of water. The minute seeds of tobacco..." - Steve Koch

Every Lewis paper I have read in the past couple months is fantastic. This is a short but sweet paper that really has me excited about my kids' upcoming science fairs in a few years. - Steve Koch

Cute paper, kind of amusing this was realized so early, and it is still a surprise now to many people (including myself). I wonder how he made that prediction. - mkz

@mkz, I agree! I too was surprised. And it's even more amazing how he casually says "lethal to higher organisms." And it turns out that indeed it's more lethal to eukaryotic than prokaryotic cells. And I think actually more lethal to multicellular than unicellular. Where did he get that insight? Amazing. - Steve Koch